merly given "on the progress of opinion upon the subject of
contagion;"--on the opinions of old writers as to the contagion of
plague, small-pox, measles, &c.:--he would infer that whereas small-pox
and certain other diseases have, by more accurate observations made in
comparatively modern times, been taken from the place they once held,
and ranged among diseases decidedly contagious, so ought cholera also
to be now pronounced contagious! As an inducement to us to adopt this
as good logic, he assures us that the list of diseases deemed contagious
by wise men is on the increase--that non-contagionists are _perverse_
people, _blunderers_, and so forth! As to his epithets, it shall only be
said that among the disbelievers of contagion in cholera, and certain
other diseases probably reputed contagious by Dr. Macmichael, are to be
found hundreds possessing as much candour, as cultivated minds, and as
much practical knowledge of their profession, as any contagionists,
whether they be Fellows of a College or not; but as to the statement
of Dr. Macmichael, is it true that we have been adding to the list of
contagious diseases? Not within the last fifty years certainly. Even the
influenza of 1803 was, if I mistake not greatly, termed, very generally,
"infectious catarrh," but what professional man would term the influenza
of 1831 so? Are there not yet remaining traces of the generally exploded
doctrine of even contagion in ague, at one time attempted to be
maintained? M. Adouard, of Paris, still indeed holds out. Do we not know
that Portal, at one period of his life at least, would not, for fear of
"infection," open the body of a person who had died of phthisis? Where
is the medical man now to be found who would set up such a plea? or
where, except in countries doomed to eternal barbarism, are patients
labouring under consumption avoided now, as they were in several parts
of the world at one time, just as if they laboured under plague, and all
for the simpleton's reason that the disease _often runs through
families_? What disinterested man will, on due examination of all that
has been written on yellow fever, stand up now in support of its being a
contagious disease, of which some thirty or forty years ago there was so
general a belief? On croup, and a few more diseases, many still think it
_wise to doubt_. Is dysentery, known to make such ravages sometimes,
especially in armies, considered now, as at one time, to be contagious?
I